In fact, Nelson already has won. The redshirt senior from Isanti, Minn., joined only four other Gophers who have captured two NCAA championships. This season, he is trying to do something no Gophers wrestler has ever done — win three titles.

However, he lost three matches in January, matching the number of losses he had combined during his two national-title seasons.

“He is a thoroughbred, and what that means is that when you put the whip to a thoroughbred, they run,” said Robinson as AC/DC blared at the end of practice. “And he knows that. He has a better understanding of where he is and what he needs to do. If it makes a difference, we will see.”

Robinson tried to motivate Nelson with a meeting after his latest loss Jan. 26.

“Usually it’s harder to win it a second or third time than it is the first time because everybody knows who you are and everybody is gunning for you,” Robinson said.

Nelson is ranked fourth after losing to now-No. 1 Bobby Telford of Iowa, No. 2 Adam Coon of Michigan and No. 3 Mike McMullan of Northwestern. All three losses since Jan. 10 have come in overtime, something Nelson has picked up on as a shift in how he’s being wrestled.

“The way guys are going to beat me is by bringing it to overtime where they have one chance to get a takedown,” Nelson said. “I can’t let it get there. I’ve got to go out and wear those guys out and make things happen earlier.”

Nelson’s next test is No. 8 Adam Chalfant of Indiana when the third-ranked Gophers face the No. 21 Hoosiers at noon Sunday at the Sports Pavilion.

“I’ve got to change my focus to have determination to score and to not waste time,” Nelson said.

In his 23 years, he hasn’t squandered much.

BEGINNINGS

“He is a pretty natural athlete,” said Neil Jennissen, Nelson’s wrestling coach at Cambridge-Isanti High School.

Jennissen recalls Nelson hitting a home run out of a varsity-size baseball field as an eighth-grader, dunking a basketball and shooting in the high 30s for nine holes of golf. Then there was football, where Nelson was a standout linebacker who carried the ball a few times as a fullback.

“He destroyed people when he did that,” Jennissen said. “It was scary. Can you imagine trying to tackle him?”

Nelson was about 220 pounds during football season and wrestled in the 215-pound class as a senior. He was 141-18 in high school and won his only state title as a senior in 2009. He was a runner-up as a junior and third as a sophomore.

“To get to where I did … I had to really work for it,” he said. “I had to put in that time.”

Nelson said he was 1-6 during his freshman wrestling season when it clicked. He then rattled off 14 wins.

“It was a mental thing in how I approached each match,” he said. “I had that will to win. It clicked that losing sucks.”

Nelson didn’t lose during his senior year, going 47-0 with 35 pins. After his high school career, he won the 2009 National Wrestling Championship in Virginia Beach, Va.

“That was pretty special,” Jennissen said. “He finished with a bang.”

Nelson had given a verbal commitment to the Gophers, but Jennissen said other college coaches came to their hotel room in Virginia after the national title, including Wisconsin coach Barry Davis, a three-time NCAA champion at Iowa.

“I remember Barry Davis stopping in our hotel room, sitting down and saying, ‘We want you bad and we are willing to give you a full scholarship to get you,’ which most people can’t afford to do,” Jennissen said. “I think the U was pretty happy that he picked them.”

FRESHMAN IMPRESSION

Robinson, who joked around with his star heavyweight after trying to motivate him Friday, says the most impressive thing Nelson has done during his Gophers career has nothing to do with the national titles he won during his redshirt sophomore and junior seasons. Rather, it was, as a freshman, beating out then-heavyweight Ben Berhow, a three-time NCAA qualifier, for a starting spot with the Gophers in 2010-11.

“The thing is he is very diligent and he is very coachable,” Robinson said. “If you tell him what to do, he will do it. That goes a long way. As a freshman, he developed that confidence.”

Nelson went 33-8 and finished seventh in the NCAA tournament as a redshirt freshman. He then went 32-2 and 33-1 for his back-to-back titles as a sophomore and junior. This season, he is 21-3, giving him a career record of 119-14.

Jennissen said that after the first title, Nelson made it a goal to become the first Gopher to win three national championships.

“He needs that hunger back,” Robinson said. “One of the things that happens when you win is that you feel comfortable and I’m trying to make him uncomfortable right now.”

Nelson, who will graduate this spring with a degree in mechanical engineering, said he must be smart and tune out the noise.

“I can’t let all the talk and hype about being the first three-time winner get to my head,” he said. “These losses are good. They are happening now. It doesn’t matter. I have to grow from it. I have to learn from it and move on.”

CHAMPION VS. CHAMPION

At Cambridge-Isanti, Nelson was valedictorian and would lift weights in the morning before classes. Sometimes he would fit in some basketball with Todd Champion, a special-needs student.

After Nelson won his first national title, Cambridge-Isanti hosted “Tony Nelson Day.” The festivities included a match between Champion and the champion.

Former Gophers wrestler and Cambridge native Luke Becker, who won the 2002 NCAA title at 157 pounds, was in the crowd during the match.

“Tony let (Todd) beat him, and most guys would have a hard time with that,” said Becker, now a Gophers assistant coach. “That is the type of guy Tony is. He knew it was for the better and it wasn’t about him. It was about other things than his pride.”

Andy Greder covers two varieties of football — Minnesota Gophers and Minnesota United, aka the club embarking into Major League Soccer this year. Since joining the Pioneer Press full time in November 2013, he’s also covered the Timberwolves as a beat and spot duty from the Vikings to high schools. He was a part-time breaking news reporter at the Pioneer Press from 2011-13, when he was also a freelance writer and organic farmer. He started at the Duluth News Tribune in 2006, covering sports, news and business until living abroad in 2010.

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